Nylon: Oh Dear.

[Qdeathstar]

Hi.

I decided today was going to be the day i printed nylon. (taulman 645, e3d v6 @ 250, bed at 50, heat chamber on 50c, retraction similar to abs). That was a week ago. Since then, i have had trouble getting it to stick. It prints the first layer or so OK, but after that it ends off coming off the bed and turning into a stinking slinking mess all over my extruder. I have tried: gluestick, hairspray, abs juice, and white elmers glue but no luck.

Also, I have tried to dry it out by taking the amount i needed off a roll and putting it in an oven at 175F... i did that but it seems like it made the nylon bigger, from 1.72mm to 1.84mm and now it wont even extrude through the bowden tube. I would have expected putting it in the oven would have made it smaller, not bigger

I even prayed to the printing gods about it, i cant say for sure if they are real or not but i do remember hearing the voices in my head.

What am I missing?

[mhackney]

Oh they are real all right, they are real...

So lets start with first layer adhesion. I print on Garolite as recommended (http://taulman3d.com/645-features.html). It sticks like glue to it, so what most folks do is mask off some of the base footprint with blue tape to minimize the Garolite surface area. I've also printed on poplar and its easier since you don't have to mask off but it tends to warp and leave a wood grain pattern on the part. I haven't tried the perf board they list but that seems like it might be a good alternative.

RE drying. Once you've dehydrated the filament (and how long did you heat it at 175°F?) you have to realize it becomes a sponge. If you have much humidity at all, the stuff will soak up the moisture. Go from the drying oven to a desiccator of some type. I use silica gel (dehydrated) in a 5 gallon bucket. In fact, I don't oven dry the stuff at all, I simply keep it in the bucket after I open the package.

[Eric]

Was it a gas oven? Water vapor is one of the combustion byproducts of natural gas, so depending on the venting design of your oven, it could be a high-humidity box at lower temperatures. Now you know where the condensation on oven windows comes from during the heating cycle.

Dump rice (or your favoriate more expensive dessicant) into a large zip-lock bag or other container and keep your spool in it whenever you aren't actually using it. That's usually enough if you keep the container in warmish parts of the house.

[Qdeathstar]

i tried it in a small toaster oven and then put one of those portable dehumidifier full of desiccant in the toaster oven after it had cooled off... i baked for about 7hrs and then had the dehumidifier in the toaster oven for about ten hours before i tried printing.

i've got a five gallon bucket of dessicant comming... but won't be here till sunday... if i put my roll of nylon in there on sunday, how long should i let it sit in the bucket?

[Qdeathstar]

https://www.amazon.com/Leecraft-BK-1-Bl ... rolite#Ask

will something like that work for the garolite?

[mhackney]

It depends on if you've opened the package or not. The packages are sealed so the filament is ready to go. If it's been sitting out for a while in high humidity it could take weeks.

I can't say about the sheet, I get mine at McMaster Carr. I don't know if "Garolite" is a trademarked name so this material you linked to might not be able to use the name but is the same stuff - like Delrin and Acetal, same stuff but Delrin is tm'd.

[Qdeathstar]

Thanks,

I'll order the McMaster and use some poplar in the mean time... I was going something from amazon would work because it could be here tomorrow.... but I kind of have my doubts since there aren't any questions or reviews that mention nylon printing..

It seemed like there was a lot of water right out of the box, but it's been sitting out now for 2 days in 30-40% humidity. Why did it get bigger in the oven?

[mhackney]

Most likely the printing gods were displeased for some reason.

[KAS]

Just a heads up, nylon is typically hygroscopic. It will absorb the moisture from clay and silica desiccants.

I think common names are Garolite and Bakelite, trademarked names for Phenolic sheets. You can make your own with glass fabric layers and resin, typically known as Micarta or G10. But I'm sure it's going to be cheaper to just purchase a known sheet that works with Nylon.


http://www.precisionpunch.com/docs/mati ... inates.doc

Laminates
(Micarta®, Bakelite, Garolite®)

• Pressure formed thermosett plastic sheet, rod, and tubing with two components.
o Resin binder (epoxy, phenolic, silicone, polyester, melamine)
o Fibre filler (glass cloth, canvas cotton cloth, linen cloth, paper cloth)

• Types of laminates sheet, rod, and tube
o Epoxy glass (FR-4, G10, G11) - see plastic index
o Phenolic (CE, C, LE) - see plastic index
o Silicone glass (G7) - see plastic index
o Polyester glass (GP01, GP02, GP03) - see plastic index
o Melamine (G5/G9)


Micarta® is a registered trademark of Norplex-Micarta formerly Westinghouse.
Bakelite - phenolic resins.
Garolite® is a registered trademark of McMaster-Carr.

[TN Yankee]

I've used 3Deez on glass with good luck. It's available on Amazon, and one tub lasts a long time.

[Qdeathstar]

Finally Simi Success!

Nope.
[img]https://s30.postimg.org/pcuy8cdsx/IMG_4632.jpg[/img]

Nah Uh.
[img]https://s30.postimg.org/4h8nx3hlt/IMG_4633.jpg[/img]

Well, it started nice.
[img]https://s30.postimg.org/4iilqijfl/IMG_4634.jpg[/img]

Wholly mother, it worked! Looks nice, just a little warp. (I printed on some sort of un-pegged pegboard that had a rough side, while I wait for the right stuff.
[img]https://s30.postimg.org/o1n6zvi75/IMG_4635.jpg[/img]

[img]https://s30.postimg.org/a98s48rfl/IMG_4636.jpg[/img]

Retractions look just about right, and it is STIFF! There is about 1/2" of filament sticking out of my extruder which means after all the fails i just barely had enough filament to get this sucessful print. I haven't built the dryer yet, but I used a larger oven and took it right from the oven to the printer. The filament seemed to still get a little bigger but not too much to fit through my bowden.